Natural Born Angel (Immortal City 2)

“Yes. Me too,” Maddy said grimly, looking over her shoulder as the two Angels joined the other group and disappeared into the canteen.

Crossing the grounds in the cart under swaying palm trees, Sadie and Maddy soon turned down a road that led between the enormous white hangars Maddy had seen when she first arrived. Each one looked exactly the same, save for individual painted black numbers. They were low and hidden by a screen of trees behind the thick walls that surrounded the entire training campus, so you would never know they were even there. No frills. But obviously something was going on in them. Sadie parked the golf cart outside the building marked #5.

Going into the building was like stepping into a pool of darkness. The sunlight outside contrasted with the inky blackness inside the building. After a few moments, Maddy’s eyes began adjusting to the dark, and she saw she was in a large room, one that was still only maybe one-tenth the size of the entire hangar. It was tiled from floor t

o ceiling in individual TV screens, like the inside of a dome. A number of computer monitors glowed along a control panel to the side, and in the middle of the room loomed a large metal platform. No one was present except for one Angel. She stood up, smiling genuinely to greet Maddy. Maddy suddenly recognized her as the female Archangel who had spoken up for her at the meeting at the NAS.

“Hello, I’m Professor Archangel Archson,” she said. “But you can call me Susan.” With her olive complexion and rich, dark hair pulled into a bun, Susan seemed at first glance like another impossibly gorgeous Angel, but there was an accessible side to her that Maddy immediately sensed.

Sadie excused herself, leaving Maddy and the professor alone together. Susan offered Maddy a cup of tea, which she politely declined.

“Well, if you don’t mind. . .” The woman poured herself a cup of the steaming brown liquid, mixing in a few drops of honey and fresh-squeezed lemon. She smiled warmly again at Maddy.

“You look confused,” Susan said. “Sometimes we Archangels teach classes. It keeps us close to the incoming classes of Guardians.”

Maddy tried to smile back, but the fact that her teacher was not just an Angel but an Archangel made her feel even more nervous.

Susan looked at Maddy. “Tell me what you know about frequencing.”

Maddy’s mind went back to what Jackson had told her, as well as her own experience with the phenomenon – her own strange visions, Angel “abilities” dating from way before she knew she was part Angel, the grisly premonitions that would overrun her at random times.

“Well, every person has a frequency. It’s unique. And every Angel has the ability to pick up on these frequencies.”

“That’s right,” the professor said, nodding encouragingly.

“But normally it’s like static, if you don’t know the frequency. It doesn’t make sense, it’s all jumbled. That’s what used to happen to me . . . before I knew.”

“Every Angel has this, except you weren’t aware. And every Angel has to learn how to control it. Some have to work very long and hard at it, and some may never even master it. Did you know that?”

Maddy shook her head.

“I’ve gone over your case file. Apparently you’re already well on your way.” Professor Archson looked at Maddy. “I bet you didn’t know that either, did you?”

“No, I just always thought I was a . . . freak.”

“I know what you mean. Visions started interpolating themselves with me at a much younger than normal age. I’d become so disturbed that my parents thought of sending me away to Angel boarding school as young as age seven. I thought I’d never master frequencing, not have those terrifying images own me. And now here I am, teaching them. You’re not a freak, Maddy. You’re just one of us.”

Maddy nodded, her blood chilling for a moment as she recalled the premonition of the boy in the striped shirt, reaching out to her from fire at the homeless shelter.

“Are you OK?” the professor asked.

Maddy regarded the kind Angel in front of her. “Professor Archson, can I still have that tea? It sounds good.”

“Sure.” The professor poured her a cup. “And remember, it’s Susan.” She leaned forward in her chair. “Now, should we get started?”

Susan turned to her computer. She typed a few keystrokes, and a deep rumbling started in the room. An eerie blue aura began to fill the space, and Maddy realized it was coming from the mysterious metallic platform in the middle of the room. Susan led Maddy towards it. The blue gleam from the sphere began to grow brighter, and Maddy thought she even felt some heat emanating off the gleaming skin of the metal.

“This is what we call a frequencing modulator. Professor Crosstone, who helped found these grounds, built the first crude prototype, and I have since perfected it.” Susan reached her hand close to the sphere. The blue light seemed to slowly gravitate towards her hand as it neared. “If you’re on it, it vastly amplifies the frequencies of those within a certain range. It’s like throwing darts at a board and all of a sudden having the bullseye made ten times bigger – it’s a lot easier. You can then practise on isolating and identifying frequencies, sharpening your skills. Which, if all goes well with your training and becoming a nominee, you’ll use the day you meet your Protections.”

Maddy stepped closer, the blue luminescence from the sphere illuminating her face. She looked at the hundreds of screens surrounding her. They were still all dark.

“What about them?”

“As the modulator brings in frequencies, we project them on each of these screens, graphically. The neural feedback of isolating them both in your mind and through the projections of the screens makes the learning process twice as effective.”

Susan stepped away from the platform, leaving Maddy there.

“Want to take it for a spin?”